The Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam from the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) tests the clinical and front-office skills a medical assistant uses every day: vital signs, injections, infection control, phlebotomy, EKGs, scheduling, billing basics, communication and medical law.
Exam format at a glance
| Format | 180 questions (150 scored, 30 unscored pretest) in 3 hours, computer-based. |
| Cost | NHA lists the exam fee on its website — check NHA for current pricing. |
| Scoring | Scaled score from 200 to 500; 390 or higher is passing. NHA does not publish a percent-correct equivalent, so practice scores here are an estimate, not a prediction of your scaled score. |
| Validity | Renewed every two years with 10 continuing education (CE) credits, per NHA's renewal requirements. |
Who this exam is for
- Medical assistant students finishing a training program
- Working medical assistants with qualifying supervised experience
- Anyone retaking the CCMA who wants to target the domains they missed
How to actually study for it
- Spend most of your time on Clinical Patient Care — it is 84 of the 150 scored questions.
- Memorize the order of draw, injection angles and needle sites, and normal vital sign ranges.
- Know 12-lead EKG electrode placement and how to recognize common artifacts.
- Review insurance and coding basics (ICD-10-CM vs CPT, ABN, copay vs coinsurance) and consent and privacy rules.
Where to go next
Start with the free 10-question diagnostic to see where you actually stand, or go straight to the one-page CCMA cheat sheet. The full CCMA practice exam covers every domain at the real exam's weighting, with every answer explained.